Baby in (re)flux.

Eliza saw a new pediatrician this morning. I really liked her. Her examination was very thorough and she actually examined the extent of Eliza's umbilical hernia. She decided her abdominal defect is significant enough to warrant a trip to a surgeon for a consultation. This doesn't mean surgery. Most of these things clear up on their own. It does mean we'll get to know the surgeon in case surgery is warranted down the road.

The baby also suffers from some pretty significant acid reflux. She hiccups like the drunk stork in those old Disney cartoons after every single meal. She'll be taking a small dose of prevacid once a day and she'll also have a swallowing study to further evaluate things. Poor little thing. Brand new and already a ward of the drug companies.

The good news is, she loves to smile and she's even beginning to make noises that aren't obvious cries. She downright giggled the other day. I'm hopeful that the medicine will help her feel better.

In other doctor news, Eliza is up to 11 lbs. 4 oz. and is 21.25 inches tall. She's about 25th percentile for all categories, so she's small for her age. Not in a worrysome way, though. She's just short and proportioned well.

Now for a couple more pictures of me with the baby. You can see where she spit up on my arm in these. Also, ignore the Gilda Radner hair. I did get it cut and colored over the weekend so I look much more human. It's amazing how little you care about your looks during the first six weeks of motherhood.

Growing!

We had a follow-up at the pediatrician on Thursday. Eliza's chest x-ray looked good, so she thinks the blue face is related to acid reflux. We're doing our best to keep Eliza upright after meals, but it's sometimes hard to hold a floppy infant who immediately zonks out after she eats. We've started propping her up in her Boppy after meals and she seems to enjoy it. She also enjoys looking around at the world.

Eliza enjoying her Boppy!


I'm hoping the constant seated position will help her stay awake during the day and make it easier to get her days and nights turned around. Sleeping isn't her strongest skill. Eliza is starting to try to smile a bit and is doing a great job trying to push herself up and look around when she's lying against someone's shoulder. She also makes a solid attempt to hold her own bottle and pacifier.

I'm currently operating on less than three hours of sleep. The baby spent the better part of last night wanting to eat constantly. The doctor thinks Eliza is overeating, so she wants us to limit her intake to 2 oz. of expressed breast milk at a time. I think we're going to try to eliminate as many bottles as we can, assuming she seems to be getting enough to eat.

As for me, I'm still working on healing from the c-section. I have a home health nurse coming daily to take care of my incision. It hasn't entirely closed since my stitches popped open almost three weeks ago. There's concern that it isn't healing quickly enough, so it may require further action when I see the doctor on Wednesday. We'll see. My blood pressure and blood sugar seem to be returning to normal, though! Isn't that great news?

We're otherwise doing well. Adapting to working on little sleep, but happy to be enjoying our very adorable little girl. Sorry for the gap between posts. I can't even imagine how anyone with multiple children finds time to breathe, let alone blog!

Eliza's first check-up.

Eliza went to the doctor for the first time yesterday. She was so excited she peed all over the doctor's table within seconds of having her temperature taken. Already the comedian. She's up to 8 lbs. 6 oz. and 20.5 inches long. She's in the 50th percentile for height and weight and the 75th for head circumference. She takes after her daddy for sure!

Unfortunately, Eliza tends to get a little bit of a blue tint around her mouth and eyes at times. The doctor was concerned enough to check her oxygen levels. They were fairly bad in the beginning, but there were questions as to the accuracy of those readings. A little later and once the baby was warmer, her oxygen level was better but still not perfect. The doctor was still concerned enough to order some heart tests and a chest x-ray. Off we went to the hospital where Eliza behaved like a champ while having some very grown-up medical procedures.

They're sending the heart tests off to Louisville for reading and we should hear back about those soon. The chest x-ray is being sent to Eliza's doctor once the radiologist looks at it. Hopefully we'll know more soon.

Otherwise, Eliza is very healthy, happy and keeping us up all night. I've tried to get her to take an interest in her swing, but it mainly just makes her cry. She does seem to like Eeyore, though. Here she is staring intently at the Eeyore on her mobile:


Here's a phone picture of Eliza when she's wide awake. She's always so alert and checking out the world.